A living tribute to Civil War soldiers

The newest trees along U.S. Route 15 come with stories of Civil War troops.

One freshly planted rising sun redbud in Leesburg, Va., honors Joseph T. Bosworth, a young man from Massachusetts who fought with the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry. He died at the Battle of Antietam.

A young sassafras nearby was dedicated to Daniel M. Barringer, who joined the Confederate Army in Corinth, Miss., fought with the 17th Mississippi Company and is buried in Union Cemetery in Leesburg. He was wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg and died about a month after he was discharged.

They are among 1,413 trees that have been planted so far to commemorate the Civil War dead through the nonprofit Journey Through Hallowed Ground (JTHG) Living Legacy Tree Planting Project. Though organizers acknowledge that the $74 million plan is ambitious, their aim is to plant a tree for each of an estimated 740,000 troops killed in the War between the States.